ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Fighting Illini Soccer fell to 2-2-0 on the season Sunday, with a 1-0 loss at Saint Louis. An early penalty kick gave the Billikens the advantage in the match, and despite several late scoring attempts, the Illini could not overcome Saint Louis.  

"I think the biggest mistake tonight was that we came out flat in the first half," head coach Janet Rayfield said after the match. "Penalty kick aside, we saw a more physical style of play on Friday and It's tough when you turn around and have to adjust. I think we just didn't snap out of that, and it took us out of our game in the first half."

The Billiken offense was aggressive from the beginning, and Saint Louis converted the penalty kick in just the fourth minute of play. The Illini stayed strong on defense throughout the half, but Saint Louis managed to record 10 shots to Illinois' two. Illini goalkeeper Michelle Denley grabbed two first-half saves, coming through in the clutch as she shut down a Saint Louis breakaway in the 25^th minute.

The Orange and Blue picked up the pace to start the second half, Illinois had several good looks early on as Patricia George carded Illinois' first shot on goal taking advantage of a breakaway down the left side of the field. Not long after, senior Hope D'Addario fired a free kick at the Billiken keeper from just outside the box. Freshman Kelly Maday had a scoring attempt of her own as she beat the Billiken keeper but fired the ball just to the left of the goalpost.

"I thought we responded and we played much better in the second half," Rayfield said. "In the last 10 minutes we played with a goal-scoring mentality. I told the team at the end, that should be our mentality from the beginning. We should be the team that's going to come out trying to score goals. That's how you win this game. We've got to change our mentality about the game, certainly we worked a lot on defense, but the way you win games is by scoring goals."

Senior goalkeeper Claire Wheatley made her first appearance for the Illini this season, playing the second half of the match. She tallied two saves for the Orange and Blue. Denley finished with two saves for UI as well, and has a 2-2-0 record this year.

Illinois will continue its road swing next weekend, heading to Texas to face both TCU and Texas A&M. Stay tuned to FIGHTIINGILLINI.com for all the latest on Illinois Soccer.

---

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Favorite Picks of the 2025 MLS Draft

Commitments: Bradley Heads to the Big East

TeamRank Presented By TeamSnap - Girls